Recently, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with Vasilis Fourlis, President of the Greek Fourlis Group, and Andrea Colzani, Global Logistics Manager of Inter Ikea Holding, at the Prime Minister's Office. At the meeting, it was announced that Inter IKEA would be partnering with the fourlis group to make an investment worth up to 70 million euros in Greece.
Mitsotakis said: "Improved logistics means better pricing. The most important thing is that the chain should work efficiently and ultimately bring more affordable products to consumers. This is a very important thing in an era of rising global living costs. In addition, logistics will also offer highly specialized job opportunities. I believe that there is already a younger generation of Greeks who will choose to join the industry. "According to several Greek** reports, the investment involves the construction of a state-of-the-art international distribution center of 50,000 square meters in Aspropyrgos, Western Attica. The centre will be developed by Trade Estates, part of the Fourlis Group, which beat out several logistics giants in an international tender held by the Inter IKEA Group. According to a report by Every**, Denmark-based Maersk Group, China COSCO Shipping Group and Swiss-based Dexun Group have all participated in the bidding. It is worth noting that Inter IKEA also considered building distribution centers in other countries, but in the end it chose Greece. According to the investment plan, the project will start construction in the second quarter of 2024 and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2025. When completed, this next-generation distribution center will emphasize sustainability and all the energy needed for its operation will be produced from renewable energy sources with a zero carbon footprint, mainly photovoltaics. The investment, with a total value of 70 million euros, is expected to create around 100 permanent jobs, including in specialist areas such as IT, data analytics, logistics and artificial intelligence. (Lin Jue).